My father, Leiba Gutianskiy, photographed in Ladyzhin in 1914. He sent this photo to his sister Fania in Odessa as a souvenir.
My father was born in Ladyzhin on September 27, 1901. He changed his name to Lev during the Soviet era. He finished cheder and then the Jewish elementary school, like all the other boys in the family. Later, my father became a laborer at the sugar factory not far from Ladyzhin. Subsequently, he became a clerk at this same factory. After the Revolution he finished a course in accounting and continued to work as an accountant at this same factory.
My parents met in Sobolevka around 1925 while my father was there on a business trip. There were quite a few sugar factories in Vinnitsa. Almost every town or village had one, and my father often visited Vinnitsa on business. There was also a sugar factory in Sobolevka. My father traveled to Sobolevka almost every month.I don't know any details of my parents' meeting each other, but I know that they married in 1928. They had written letters to each other for three years and saw each other quite often. They had a civil registration ceremony in Sobolevka. They didn't have a wedding party. The three of them just had dinner: my mother, father and my mother's sister, Hontsia. There were no other relatives of ours left in Sobolevka.
My father had quit his job by then, and they left for Kiev. They decided to begin a new life in a big city.